Legion spent two full seasons following David Haller on a trippy journey full of twists, turns, and big question marks about WTF just happened. As fans know, David is the son of none other than Professor X, and there was no way to say for sure if the legendary Marvel Comics character would ever appear in the flesh. Well, Legion is ending after its upcoming third season on FX, but not before introducing Professor X, and he'll be played by none other than Game of Thrones alum Harry Lloyd.
Yes, Harry Lloyd is on board to bring Professor X to the small screen. He joins the ranks of actors like Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, and Laurence Belcher in portraying the character. The Legion casting news broke via a post from the show's official Twitter account, where it was also revealed that Stephanie Corneliussen of Mr. Robot will play David's mother, Gabrielle. Will Season 3 be a Haller family reunion?
It's difficult to say. Both Harry Lloyd and Stephanie Corneliussen are younger than Dan Stevens, who plays David. Unless Legion intends to go to all the trouble of aging up the two newest members of the cast rather than just casting actors of the right age, the odds are that the show is going in a trippy direction to introduce David's parents.
David never really knew his biological mother and father on Legion, so we can rule out Harry Lloyd and Stephanie Corneliussen as Professor X and Gabrielle in a flashback of David's, unless it's a memory he repressed and viewers never knew he had. Could this be a flashback for the viewers to experience without David being in the know? How about a recording, or a story told by somebody else? Or could it be a vision of some sort? It certainly wouldn't be the first time David had a vision.
As recently as last year, it felt like Professor X might never be able to appear on Legion. Show creator Noah Hawley addressed the question of Patrick Stewart reprising the role by saying that it wasn't a "rights issue or a legal issue" that was keeping him off the show, but rather "corporate synergy." He did comment that he thought Legion would "be victorious" about getting Professor X.
At the time, some fans thought that this meant he intended to try and bring in Patrick Stewart. Who could have guessed that the real goal was to bring in a version of the character played by a different and younger actor? I imagine that the casting of Harry Lloyd might bum out any who were hoping that Stewart would be the one to play Professor X, but Lloyd is certainly a worth man to tackle the role.
On top of his role as the detestable Viserys on Game of Thrones, Harry Lloyd had a key part on Counterpart as well as British series Hang Ups and Marcella. Only time will tell how he works as Professor X and whether his casting rules out Patrick Stewart appearing at some point as well. Surely he could take a break from Picard to drop by Legion for a cameo, right?
Only time will tell. The third and final season of Legion is currently in production. No premiere date has been announced just yet, but it's expected to hit the airwaves on FX sometime this year. For some upcoming viewing options (including FX's What We Do in the Shadows, which just released a trailer), check out our midseason TV premiere schedule.
